Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-294) and index.

Foreword : call to action / Cleve L. Killingsworth -- Introduction : Betsy Lehman -- Early history of the new quality movement -- The birth of IHI -- The Annenberg conference on error -- To err Is human -- First, do no harm -- The Cincinnati children's triumvirate : Uma Kotagal, Jim Anderson, Lee Carter -- Virginia Mason medical center and the Toyota production system -- Josie King -- The learning journey of Jonkoping County, Sweden -- Kaiser Permanente and the future of health care -- The Holy Grail .

Americans have always thought their healthcare system was the best in the world. But starting in the late 1990s, shocking reports emerged that showed this was far from the truth. Treatment-related deaths or complications were found to be the fifth leading cause of death for Americans, and hundreds of thousands of patients were being harmed by botched medical procedures. Spurred by the quality crisis, a group of visionary physicians led by Donald Berwick and Paul Batalden embarked on a study of industrial quality improvement techniques, daring to apply them to the practice of medicine despite resistance from the medical community. The Best Practice tells the story of this burgeoning movement, and of how the medical landscape is being radically transformed--for the better.